First, in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, the situation changed abruptly. The Jin army marched south, the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed, and the Great Song Dynasty was in danger. At this turning point in history, our story slowly unfolded in Nanyang.
Nanyang, a place that was once home to outstanding people, is now threatened by war. In the streets and alleys, the prosperity of the past has been replaced by panic and anxiety. Civilians fled, leaving behind barren fields that were uncultivated.
At this time of turmoil, a recruitment notice was posted at the gate of the city, as if a lamp of hope was lit in the dark night. The Yuejia Army is recruiting soldiers, which is an opportunity for ordinary people to change their fate and a time to serve the country.
Yue Fei came to the recruitment office in person, his eyes were like torches, and he carefully selected the right candidate. He knew very well that in this critical autumn of survival, every soldier could become the key to saving the Great Song Dynasty.
Yue Fei's heart was full of a sense of mission, and he secretly vowed that he must form an elite army that could resist the Jin soldiers. At the same time, in the streets and alleys of Nanyang, the people are talking.
Some people are afraid of the cruelty of war and hesitate; Others are eager to try and make a difference. In this chaotic situation, everyone is faced with a choice, and their choice will affect the direction of the entire era.
In this stormy era, four uninvited guests quietly descended on Nanyang. They are Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun, who have traveled through time and space to this strange world.
Second, when they first arrived, the four of them each found a way to make a living: Liu Bei sold straw shoes, Guan Yu sold mung beans, Zhang Fei sold pork, and Zhao Yun became a dart head. However, the calm days did not last long.
The news of the Jin army's southward march was like a bolt from the blue, shattering their comfortable life. One day, Liu Bei stood in front of the city gate, looking at the recruitment notice, and couldn't help sighing: "It's easy to cross once, but you still have to start from scratch."
When Zhang Fei heard Liu Bei's sigh, a wave of pride ignited in his heart. He scolded loudly: "The big husband doesn't deal with it for the country, but sighs here, what is the big husband? These words stirred up the blood in the hearts of others.
Guan Yu and Zhao Yun rushed over when they heard the news, and the four of them met in the backyard of Zhang Fei's slaughterhouse. They looked into each other's eyes, as if they saw a shadow of their past lives. For a while, I was full of pride and tears.
They immediately married Jin Lan and decided to join the army together to write their own legend in this strange era. The four of them came to the recruiting office, and Yue Fei's gaze wandered over them.
Third, Guan Yu Danfeng eyes, lying silkworm eyebrows, extraordinary bearing; Zhang Feihu has a bear's waist on his back, his face is full of meat, and he looks like a fierce general; Zhao Yun is heroic and strong. These three were quickly selected and became the "utility soldiers" of the Yue family's army.
However, fate seems to be particularly unfair to Liu Bei. Because of his short stature, lack of strength, and his age, he could only become an ordinary soldier. Looking at the woven mark that was stabbed in the face, Liu Bei couldn't help but burst into tears: "The sky is long, how thin is it to me."
In this way, the four time-travelers embarked on their respective military careers in the Song Dynasty, and their fates have been closely intertwined with this era since then. In the military system of the Southern Song Dynasty, soldiers were divided into three ranks: "envoy, utility, and soldier", and this system was designed to provide a different path of development for everyone.
Our four traversers have experienced very different life trajectories under this system. Guan Yu's military career can be described as smooth sailing. With his dignified appearance and strong martial arts, he quickly won Yue Fei's appreciation, and was directly promoted to "envoy" and entered the ranks of low-level commanders.
This honor inspired Guan Yu's inner ambition, and he secretly vowed to create more glory in this era. In the following years, Guan Yu made many achievements. Whether it is against the Jin army or the extermination of thieves, he always charges forward and bravely crowns the three armies.
There are more and more records in the merit book, and Guan Yu has also been promoted step by step, from a general to a general, and finally a general. After the Song court took back the military power of the three major generals in the eleventh year of Shaoxing, Guan Yu seized the opportunity and became the commander of a certain army in one fell swoop.
However, even if he is as meritorious as Guan Yu, his career is not all smooth sailing. The position he dreamed of being in charge of the garrison army was never fulfilled throughout his life. In the dead of night, Guan Yu looked at the moonlight in a daze, and couldn't help but feel a little lost.
Fourth, in comparison, Zhang Fei's military career is much smoother. Although he has also made some achievements, he is far less dazzling than Guan Yu. According to the Song Dynasty's "Utility Eight Qualifications Law", Zhang Fei was awarded the "Wupin Martial Rank Officer" of the deputy lieutenant of Shouque Jinyi.
Since then, his military career seems to have come to a standstill, and he has been hovering among the eight seniors for a long time, and he has never been able to rank among the rank of rank officer and commander of the army. However, Zhang Fei was happy with this.
He often laughed at himself: "Being able to eat enough and not starving is much better than selling pork." In the end, Zhang Fei was discharged from the army safely and received a considerable severance pay, which can be regarded as a successful ending.
Zhao Yun's fate is a little sad. When he first entered the barracks, he was full of ambition, but because of his taciturn personality and poor getting along with his colleagues, he was trapped in the rear as a handyman for a long time.
Seeing Guan Yu Qingyun go straight up, Zhang Fei can also live in peace, Zhao Yun's heart is full of desire to make contributions. The opportunity has finally come, but at the cost of being a "daredevil".
Fifth, Zhao Yun accepted it without hesitation, but this time, he did not reproduce the courage of "seven in and seven out" in front of Changban Slope. At the beginning of the battle, Zhao Yun was pierced through the heart by ten thousand arrows, fell on the battlefield, and left this world forever with an unfulfilled wish.
As for Liu Bei, as an ordinary soldier, his military career was full of ups and downs. Although he was devastated at first, he did not give up. Through unremitting efforts, Liu Bei finally became a "white body utility" after gaining some military merits.
However, just as he began to hope for the future, bad luck struck him - he lost an arm in a battle and had to be discharged from the army. In the end, Liu Bei came to Xiangyang and responded to the call of the imperial court to participate in Yingtian.
Looking at the field in front of him, Liu Bei said with a wry smile: "I didn't expect that I would go around and go back to the days of farming." "Four people, four destinies, all wrote their own unique chapters of life under the utility soldier system.
In this troubled era, Cao Cao also came to the Southern Song Dynasty with the whirlpool of time and space. Unlike the others, he chose a more conceitive path. Cao Cao was keenly aware of the loopholes in the utility military system and decided to exploit them.
He skillfully recognized a eunuch as his father-in-law, and with this connection, he easily became a utility soldier. When Cao Cao stepped into the barracks, he was surprised to find that it had become a concentration of relatives and protégés of the imperial court.
The records in the historical books confirm what Cao Cao saw and heard: "Father and ancestor are lectures, and if they have a little power, they will be effective." "Many people who do not meet the standards have squeezed into the ranks of officers by virtue of their privilege alone.
Sixth, even at the critical juncture when the Northern Song Dynasty was about to fall and Kaifeng was in an emergency, this kind of abuse of power for personal gain was still rampant. What is even more shocking is that many utility soldiers "have not tasted it, but please give it a double merit than a soldier".
They have never been on the battlefield, but they are rewarded more than the soldiers who actually fight. Faced with this situation, Cao Cao couldn't help but smile bitterly: "This utility soldier system is better than me!" He began to wonder how such a corrupt military system could withstand the invasion of foreign enemies. As time went on, the disadvantages of utility soldiers became more and more apparent.
Not only did it not improve the combat effectiveness of the army, but on the contrary, it increased the financial burden of the Southern Song Dynasty and aggravated the problems of "redundant troops" and "redundant expenses." Zhang Shou once bitterly criticized the effective use of soldiers in the compromise, "the number of soldiers is ruthless, or ask for food money, or ask for post coupons, and consume the country, but there is no merit."
Cao Cao's experience inadvertently revealed the deep-seated problems of the utility soldier system, and also laid the groundwork for the decline and fall of the Southern Song Dynasty. At first, the establishment of utility soldiers did attract a group of soldiers who dared to fight and were able to fight.
They have a very high status in the army and enjoy preferential treatment, which has indeed enhanced the combat effectiveness of the army to a certain extent. Our heroes of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun, have become utility soldiers by virtue of their own strength, and they enjoy a lot of treatment that is much higher than that of ordinary soldiers.
Seventh, any system has two sides. The high remuneration of utility soldiers soon attracted the attention of opportunists. As Cao Cao observed, many people began to exploit the loopholes of the system and use their power to gain the status of utility soldiers.
Even more worryingly, this phenomenon is not unique. Even at the critical juncture of the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty and the siege of Kaifeng, there were still many people who squeezed into the utility army in order to obtain higher treatment, but they did not go to the front line to guard at all.
The expansion of the number of utility soldiers and the high treatment led to a further increase in military and political expenditures in the Southern Song Dynasty. This not only did not improve the actual combat effectiveness of the army, but on the contrary aggravated the financial burden of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Zhang Shou pointed out sharply in the recital: "The number of utility soldiers is ruthless, or ask for food money, or ask for post coupons, and spend the country, but there is no merit." These words point to the drawbacks of the utility soldier system.
The Eight-Capital Law of Utility was supposed to be a sharp weapon for the military reform of the Southern Song Dynasty, but for various reasons, it became a double-edged sword that hurt itself. It not only improved the combat effectiveness of some of the army, but also aggravated military and political corruption, and eventually became a heavy burden that dragged down the Southern Song Dynasty.
The rise and fall of the utility soldier system reflects the fate of the Southern Song Dynasty to a certain extent. On the surface, this system injected fresh blood into the army, provided a channel for promotion, and seemed to be a successful military reform.
However, with the passage of time, the drawbacks were gradually revealed, which became an important factor in accelerating the decline and fall of the Southern Song Dynasty. Military and political corruption is like a cancer, which is constantly growing under the cover of the utility military system.
Eighth, from commanders to ordinary utility soldiers, many people are taking advantage of the loopholes in the system to seek personal gains. Even in times of national crisis, this corruption has not stopped. As recorded in historical data, even when Kaifeng was in danger, there were still people who squeezed into the utility army for high treatment, but they were unwilling to go to the front line to guard.
This phenomenon reflects not only the lax military discipline, but also the decay of the entire ruling class. The utility soldier system, which was supposed to increase combat effectiveness, became a safe haven for the children of the powerful to escape from battle.
Military spending swelled and combat effectiveness declined, and this contradiction eventually became the last straw that crushed the Southern Song Dynasty. From the deterioration of the utility soldier system, we can clearly see the root cause of the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty.
The fall of Kaifeng, the disgrace of Jingkang, and even the final fall of the Southern Song Dynasty were all related to this deep-seated corruption. The rise and fall of the utility military system has become a microcosm of the Southern Song Dynasty's transition from prosperity to decline, warning future generations of the difficulty and importance of governing the country.